The full text of National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) 23
concerning "National Policy on Ballistic Missile Defense" was
obtained by Bill Gertz of the Washington Times and reported in the
Times on May 27.

The Bush Administration's national security directives are almost
never seen by Congress or the public. NSPD 23 is only the second
such directive to reach the public domain in full, thanks to Mr.
Gertz's magic fingers.

NSPD 23, signed December 16, 2002, differs in a few small but
interesting ways from the White House fact sheet on missile defense
policy that was published last week.

The Directive specifically cites North Korea's pursuit of weapons of
mass destruction and long-range missiles as a justification for
U.S. missile defense programs. And it notes that "the United
States will seek permission respectively from the U.K. and Denmark
to upgrade early-warning radars in Fylingdales and Thule,
Greenland."

The Central Intelligence Agency says it has not finally determined
whether the total amount of money spent on intelligence in 1947 and
1948 can be declassified without causing damage to national
security and compromising intelligence sources and methods. But it
told a federal court that it will make such a determination by June
27.

The CIA had previously refused to declassify this information in
response to a 1995 Freedom of Information Act request from the
Federation of American Scientists. Upon appeal, it reiterated that
refusal in December 2000, claiming that the requested information
was still properly classified, despite the fact that budget
information from 1997 and 1998 had been declassified.

But now, in the face of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the
Agency will either have to declassify the information or to
persuade a federal judge that it is still properly classified, an
outlandish claim that seems unlikely to be sustained even by a
deferential judicial branch.

"Will [Director of Central Intelligence George J.] Tenet really put
his name on a declaration swearing that budget numbers from the
Truman administration must remain classified?" a Washington Post
editorial asked incredulously last year.

The answer appears to be no. In response to a court order to set
forth its schedule for defending its continued classification of
the 1947-48 budget numbers, the CIA indicated only that it will
formally respond to the request for disclosure by June 27.

In testimony before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
Upon the United States last week, Senator Bob Graham said that one
way to improve congressional oversight of intelligence would be to
consolidate all intelligence spending under a single line item for
review by a single congressional subcommittee.

To do so would necessarily imply disclosing the total intelligence
budget each year, Graham noted. "So be it," he said.

"I believe that, just as has occurred with the Department of
Homeland Security, that the intelligence agencies ought to be
lifted from the Defense budget and given their own budget," Sen.
Graham said. "Then at least the public will know what the bottom
line for intelligence was and they can assess: 'That seems
excessive or inadequate.' Right now you can't even have that debate
because it's buried inside the big Defense Department budget."

Remarkably, Sen. Graham indicated that DCI George J. Tenet had
endorsed this proposal. "George Tenet has told me personally that
he would support this approach," he said.

That is noteworthy because DCI Tenet has just finished insisting up
and down under oath in federal court that declassification of the
2002 intelligence budget total would cause unacceptable damage to
national security and intelligence sources and methods. If Sen.
Graham accurately reported Mr. Tenet's view of routine annual
budget disclosures, this would be difficult to reconcile with his
sworn statement opposing a single budget disclosure from two years
ago.

See Senator Graham's May 22 prepared testimony presented to the
National Commission on September 11 here:

Almost all of the congressional witnesses from both parties who
testified at last week's September 11 Commission hearing identified
excessive secrecy as a problem and an obstacle to effective
congressional oversight.

Describing the national security classification system as
"dysfunctional," Rep. Porter Goss, chair of the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), said his committee
intended to tackle the problem.

"The classification process has become such a chore, and appears to
me to be so dysfunctional, that we are taking that on as a main
piece of business for our oversight committee to deal with," said
Rep. Goss.

"Senator Moynihan led the way with some changes in the
declassification program. I was pleased to be associated with him
on that. That was one of his last pieces of legislation. But it
didn't go anywhere far enough, and it pointed out a problem that we
have -- not only not enough capability to declassify when we
should; we overclassify very badly. There's a lot of gratuitous
classification going on, and there are a variety reasons for them.
They are not all sinister by any means."

HPSCI ranking member Rep. Jane Harman, speaking of the congressional
joint inquiry into 9/11, made a related point earlier this month.

"Even though our inquiry was completed in December of last year, the
declassification process is still ongoing. That is wrong," she
said, speaking May 9 at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars.

"If intelligence can be declassified in 48 hours for Colin Powell's
use at the UN, it shouldn't take more than 48 days to declassify
significant portions of the Joint Inquiry report. But here we are,
six months later, and still with no report."

"A public report should be available now. The inquiry was not just
an academic exercise to edify the Intelligence Community. It was
paid for by the American people. It was done for their benefit. And
as much of the report as possible should be released to the public
-- today," Rep. Harman said.

REEVALUATING US INTELLIGENCE ON IRAQ

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence asked the CIA
last week "to reevaluate US intelligence regarding the amount or
existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq and that
country's linkages to terrorist groups... in light of new
information resulting from recent events in Iraq."

"The Committee is interested in learning, in detail, how the
intelligence picture regarding Iraqi WMD was developed," wrote
HPSCI chair Rep. Porter Goss and ranking member Rep. Jane Harman on
May 22.

See the text of their letter, which was first reported in the
Washington Post on May 23, here: